The first step towards building the house was to visit the local county Planning Department and ascertain the current regulations. Because the State had dropped new regulations on the already under-staffed county, it took me a whopping nine months to get an interview with a planner. When the applications for the permits were submitted, everything seemed to go into slow motion. I kept as much pressure on the county as I thought reasonable but it still took three long years before the permits were issued. Within a week or two I contacted the electricity company with a request to come to the lot for a discussion of the service installation. After a quick inspection I was advised that there was no electric service at the building pad and that they would look for the right of way in the area and would let me know.

My next step was to report the missing electric supply to the two agents that were involved. My agent said she would pass the info to her broker. Several calls to the electricity company brought no further information and finally I was told that the person involved was out on sick leave. Over the next few weeks I made extensive inquiries and searches for the complete rights of way for the electric supply: the original subdivider of that lot, the earlier surveyors of the several subdivisions, the title insurance company of the lot, the county planners and records, and all came up with nothing. I found it difficult to believe that such ignorance and incompetence could exist.

Amongst the subdivision drawings I obtained from the county, there was one of a survey showing an electric right of way coming to a point about 30' from my lot boundary, where it ended abruptly on the only road that passed through the lot. While all this was going on, I kept both brokers informed of my efforts. The broker for the seller, Ron Kurkendall of Alain Pinel, offered bland encouragement but never did anything concrete. I sent regular emails to my agent and she assured me that she was forwarding them to her broker. SHE was helpful and conciencious in every way. Her broker - KENT NELSON of Sothebys - never answered a single one of the emails that were forwarded to him and never reached me in any other way. It seems that he was in his ivory tower and considered us peons, who were buying his properties, something like those smelly little things that doggies leave lying around.

A Reasonable Offer: At one point, in an effort to get things moving, I contacted the two brokers and offered to pay 1/3 of the costs of the installation of the electric supply, which was estimated to be around $27,000 - just $9,000 each. Their silence was deafening.

Finally, I lost my patience and hired a lawyer only to discover that the three year statute of limitations on the purchase contract of the lot was rapidly coming to an end. It was then clear to me that those realtors were sitting tight waiting for the clock to tick out. About a week before that deadline, I sent an email to my agent advising her that I had hired a lawyer and she responded saying that her broker would be meeting the company lawyer the following Saturday. The statute of limitations was due to expire the very next day so, I bet that they had intended to meet for celebration drinkies. Both brokers had a well deserved surprise when the necessary papers were presented in court to stop the clock on the contract.

Then things went into extreme slow motion. The brokers stalled and stalled. Eventually a proposal was made to enter mediation and it happened. The mediator was a very competent retired judge who did everything possible to reach an amicable solution but the realtors' boots, minds and wallets were stuck in the mud. The discussions went around in circles and the realtors barely budged. Apparently they were stalling for time in the hope that I would lose patience and give in. No such luck for them. Pathetically small offers were made and rejected. A meeting was called to, once and for all, reach an amicable agreement. I had to travel a few hundred miles to this time waster and stay overnight at an hotel. Little progress was made and the mediator, in disgust, pulled the plug and took his leave.

While the "mediation" was in progress I was asked to present information on the reasons why I had waited so long to start construction; what I had been doing; why I had not discovered the missing electric service earlier; what steps I had taken to find the rights of way, etc. It took me at least 2 weeks to gather all the information and write it out in chronological order.

After a long stalled period, the judge got very impatient and started to press for a settlement. Eventually, the realtors agreed to pay $17,500 each and a few more bucks here and there for a survey of the route for the electric supply. I ended up with $21,871 and no compensation for the months of work on the electric right of way, preparing documents for the litigation, my trip to the useless mediation meeting, etc. The $21,871 is probably about $8K short of what will be required to do the trench engineering, the trenching and lay the cable.

Each broker undoubtedly had substantial legal fees to pay, in addition to the $17,500+. Compare that with the roughly $9K each that it would have cost them, if they had accepted my offer several years previously. How dumb can brokers get?

Without an electric service there was no point in starting construction. Moreover, PG&E will not do any work on an electric supply route until construction has begun. Apparently this is a CPUC regulation. The county has rules by which the construction permits are voided after a certain period. The two year plus litigation process was enough to void the permits, so now the applications have to be made again, which means paying the fees over, updating the original drawings and reports, and possibly another few years of delays.

After all that long and messy process, I was presented with an agreement that required me not to disclose any information about the parties involved. I flatly refused and held out for at least a month. Then I got the idea to delete the disclosure clauses and submit the remainder of the agreement with my signature. It was accepted so I am now a position to expose the two guilty parties.

The following is an extract from an email to Vicki after I was told that she had left California:

"I didn't know you were out of R.E.
What has happened to the box of drawings, and other papers related to the lot, that I sent to you a year or so back?"

This is an extract from her answer:

" .... they are with the broker, Bert Aronson, at Remax Monterey Peninsula at his Carmel office. They have moved, so you will have to look up their new address and phone number. it's in Carmel on San Carlos."

The following was the only response I had from Bert, when I asked him where the box of materials was:

"WE could not locate your drawings at our office. We will check our storage, but we are not optimistic. Sincerely, Bert Aronson"

That was his first and last reply, so it appears that the original documents, containing about four years of hard work, had been lost or just dumped. Not only that but, as is obvious from reading the email, his attitude is one of complete indifference.

I could understand someone losing a letter or a drawing but a whole box of about 15"x12"x12" that was loaded? That sure takes a deliberate or totally incompetent action.